French budget –Après moi, le déluge

For four months, French lawmakers fought over the budget, with the main goal of making a good impression in front of the media on a daily basis and proving to their constituents that their interests were being well defended. Collectively, everyone loses out since the government deficit remains excessive and the debt trajectory is still unsustainable. Meanwhile, government finances are increasingly determined by inexorable demographic trends, such as an ageing population (higher pension and healthcare costs) and a falling fertility rate (fewer future contributors to social security). There is a collective blindness to these issues, which are virtually absent from the budget debate.